Colombia Tourist Visa For Indian Citizens (San Francisco Embassy)

When I first looked at the visa requirements for the Colombia tourist visa for Indian passport holders, I was baffled. They seemed to ask for two of each document. I ended up carrying a LOT of paper to San Francisco that day. Thankfully, I think they meant one for each applicant. We had gone to their office while waiting for our Peru visa, so we knew all the details beforehand and went thoroughly prepared.

We were in and out of the consulate in 20 minutes! The visa will be ready in one week, we were told by a very friendly lady who works there. She said she was the only one in the office right now, so its taking her time. We told her about our six-country plan and she agreed to try to expedite the process. She also told us that a lot of Indians have been visiting the consulate to get visas.

Documents we took for EACH applicant

• Application form
• original passport
• $95/person (apparently its $100 for non-Indians). Still steep!
• 2 photographs
• bank statements
• US visa copy
• Airline reservation (and date of exit from Colombia)
• Hotel reservation

The consulate is at 595 Market street. There is a chipotle and peets coffe shop (next building). Security guard will check your ID and let you in at the ground floor. There is a paid underground parking garage in the Red Cross building, at 2nd and Mission Street. From the garage, the consulate is a 5 minute walk away.

UPDATE:
After waiting for 3-4 business days, I was getting anxious not having heard from them. We called repeatedly, but were not able to reach them or get a status update. So exactly a week after submitting our docs, I showed up at the consulate and thankfully, the visas were ready. The same lady greeted me, and remembered who I was and didnt even ask for my receipt. Only one of us needed to go to get both passports.

On to Argentina now!